


The Beginning

by DearLittleRobin



Series: A story about how things got bad and then got better only to get bad again and stay bad for a long time [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Everyone Needs A Hug, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Lance (Voltron)-centric, Langst, More angst tho, Multi, Pain, Set after S02 ep13, Spoilers from Season 2, because I love him, just pain
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-22
Updated: 2017-02-19
Packaged: 2018-09-19 03:40:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,005
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9416996
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DearLittleRobin/pseuds/DearLittleRobin
Summary: The team needs to find Shiro.Keith needs to lead Voltron.Lance needs to pilot the Red Lion.Everyone needs a break.





	1. Part 1

**Author's Note:**

> This will be fun~

It's not like they hadn't got themselves into trouble before. They were paladins of Voltron, defenders of the universe, soldiers in a war. Trouble was a common thing for them, they knew how to deal with it.  
But what were they supposed to do when their leader disappeared without leaving any traces? Nothing prepared them for that.

"I can't find him" Allura repeated for what seemed to be the twentieth time. The princesses fingers were moving quickly , her eyes never focusing on something for too long.   "I can't find him" She said again and the pain in her voice was enough to make Lance’s chest hurt.

"Do you think Shiro is alright?" Hunk whispered to Lance where the two of them sat together, Lance’s head resting on Hunk's shoulder as he stared at ground.  _'Do you think he's alive?'_  Was what that question truly meant.

"I don't know" Was Lance’s response, given in a low voice. It wasn't a good answer, really. Hunk knew Lance had no way of knowing how Shiro was, he only asked because he was scared and needed reassurance. But Lance was so  _tired_. Too tired to pretend.

They went back to silence.

"This is pointless!" Everyone looked at the source of the voice: Keith. The red paladin stood with his arms crossed and with his eyes full of anger and worry. "We can't just stay here and do nothing!"

Lance imagined that, if they were in other circumstances, that moment would probably be the beginning of an argument between him and Keith. He briefly considered saying something, kind of to pretend that they were okay and give everyone a sense of normality, as if Shiro wasn't missing. Lance only needed to take one look at Keith’s face to decide against it.

"I know you are upset, young man, but be sure that we're doing everything we can right now" It was Coran who answered. He walked towards  Keith and put a hand on his shoulder, offering a sympathetic smile. "We'll have a better chance when the Black Lion comes back online .Until then, all we can do is wait" 

 _Oh yeah_ , Lance thought, they also had the Black Lion problem. Right after opening to show an empty cockpit Black shut down completely. Coran, Pidge and Hunk spend hours trying to fix it up but, aside from a few damages from battle that we're easily repaired, there was nothing wrong with it.

"There must be something else we can do" Keith protested , but he didn't sound angry like before, no, he sounded lost, scared.

_Like a child who had just lost his brother._

"Look, we can't exactly fly around looking for him and we can't form Voltron." Pidge was the one talking now. She was sit not too far from Lance and Hunk, messing around with some kind of robot. "Waiting is our only option" She sighed and set the machine aside for a moment" Whether we like it or not"

That didn't seem to really convince Keith, but he didn't say anything else and they went back to silence.

Lance had no idea on how long they stayed there, silently observing Allura search for Shiro in the depths of space. At some point, Keith and Pidge joined Lance and Hunk. Four scared paladins trying their best to hold on with nothing to guide them through. No leader to help them.

They waited in silence and then they heard it.

A roar.

They were all extremely tired, the battle had drained most of their energy, but Lance was sure that they had never gotten somewhere so fast. As he arrived at the hangar, Lance couldn't help but smile as he saw the yellow eyes of the Black Lion shinning.

It turned its head to look at them as they entered and, as soon as they were all standing together in front of the enormous machine, the Black Lion lowered its head.   
Allura was the first to take a step forward and slowly raise her right hand. The lion stayed still and that was the permission Allura needed. She took a few more steps and rested her hand on the lion's mouth.

Everything that happened after was kind of a blur.

The yellow eyes shined brighter than ever so everyone had to shield their eyes from the luminosity. They heard Allura gasp and the lion roared again, almost loud enough for it to be deafening. And then, just as fast as it begun it stopped and the room was normal again .

"Allura!" Coran shouted.

After blinking a couple of times Lance could see the princess on the ground, her hand still connected to the Black Lion's jaw. She groaned as she got up, Coran already by her side and helping.

"Are you okay, Allura?" Hunk asked, running towards the Alteans with the other paladins.

"Did it say something?" Pidge asked.

The princess turned to them, eyes wide and an expression that looked like the mix of worry and relief.

"I know where Shiro is" She said, almost like a whisper. Lance felt a smile forming on his face and looking around he saw that his teammates shared a similar expression. He was ready to throw a quick comemoration party when he looked at Allura again. She was completely serious.

"...And where is he?" Lance asked, his smile slowly disappearing.

Allura took a deep breath before answering.

"He's in Voltron" She said, this time louder. "The Black Lion's home planet"


	2. Part 2

The Black Lion was built from an asteroid by King Alfor and Zarkon, Allura had explained. Although they had the files regarding the construction, there were no records about where the asteroid came from. That's when Voltron turned out to be more than the name of a giant robot.

Voltron was a planet. A living planet, much like the Balmera. And it was where Shiro was, where Black had to send him so he could survive. The problem was, Voltron was hidden from normal devices and there were no maps or directions. Most creatures didn't even know the place existed. 

"Only one thing can lead us there" Allura had said. "Our Voltron, the sons and daughters of the planet"

The unspoken question was clear.

_How would they form Voltron without Shiro?_

"Keith" Allura turned to the red paladin. He looked at her with wide eyes, lips pressed in a thin line. "Shiro talked to me about his wishes"

Lance could feel his blood freezing at those words. The feeling made him want to vomit. Lance felt Hunk's worried gaze on him, watching his reaction, but he couldn't turn to his friend. His eyes were locked on the scene in front of him: Allura and Keith looking at each other with serious faces, Allura's mouth opening to let the next words out.

"You will be piloting The Black Lion"

It was like a slap. No, more like a punch. Lance’s hands started to shake involuntarily as Allura turned to him. _If Keith was taking Black..._

"Lance" Allura called him, loud and clear, but Lance felt like her voice was far,far away. He couldn't pay attention to her, his head was a mess.

_If Keith was taking Black, Red wouldn't have a pilot._

_If Keith was taking Black, He would be leaving a spot, a place for a replacement to be._

"You will be piloting The Red Lion"

_"No"_

His voice was firm despite how dizzy he was feeling and he watched as Allura's serious face changed.

"No?" It was strange, how Allura could put so much emotions in one simple word because Lance could hear her anger, her disappointment, her disbelief pretty clearly.

"No" He repeated. Lance raised his head to stare at Allura's angry eyes. If he was going to disobey her orders he might as well be brave enough to do it while looking at her " I won't be trading Blue. You can pilot Black and Keith can keep his Lion. Problem solved"

"That's not how things work, Lance" it was like she was spitting venom at him, Lance could feel his eyes burning. "Shiro chose Keith"

"And I am choosing to stay with Blue." The anger made it hard to breath, his heart could explode by how fast it was beating "Why don't you pilot Red?"

"Because that's not how it works!" Now she was truly angry. Lance involuntary took a step back "I can't pilot red because I don't have what it takes! You are the closest one to achieving the right qualities of the Red Paladin!"

"And who would pilot Blue then?!"

"I would!"

"So you can't pilot Red and you can't pilot Black, but you can pilot Blue?!"

"It's _easier_!"

If Lance thought Allura saying that Keith would become their leader had hurt, it was because he didn't know how painful words could be. The moment Allura said it the air was sucked out of Lance’s lungs, his vision became blurry, the anger faded away. He looked at Allura, stared at her face. There was no regret there.

"Okay then" Lance said when he felt he could speak again. His voice wasn't firm anymore but he didn't care. He didn't care about anything at that moment. "I'll pilot the Red Lion as you wish princess." He turned around. Hunk was staring at him with sad eyes, the same face he did when Lance told him he didn't pass for the fighter pilots class. _Pity_. Lance hated it. He turned his gaze to the ground and kept walking  "Call me if you need anything else" Were his final words before going out of the room, his feet making a loud noise as they hit the metal ground.

"Lance!" Someone called. Maybe it was Hunk or maybe it was Pidge or Coran or even Keith. (He knew it couldn't be Allura. The voice sounded worried, not angry. Allura wouldn't be worried about him at that moment) Lance didn't know and didn't care. 

He took a deep breath and kept walking, ignoring his urge to scream and cry. Lance just needed to be alone for a few minutes so he could calm down and then everything would be ok again. He just needed to sit down and focus on breathing and it would all be fine.

"Moooo!"

If anyone asked, Lance would never admiti that he,a paladin of Voltron, got scared by a cow. _I didn't scream_ , he would say, _I only coughed very loudly!_

"Holy quiznak, Kalt!" Lance yelled and dramatically put his hand on his chest "You made me cough!"

"Moooo!" Kaltenecker answered as and moved her head slightly to the the left.

"Apologies accepted" Lance smiled a little, patting her head. "What are you doing here? Are you looking for food?"

"Moooo."

"I see." Lance sighed. He hid his face on his hands and shook his head and little bit."Why am I talking to a cow?" He whispered to himself.

"Moo" 

Then it Lance. He was in space fighting aliens with a giant robot made of smaller robots. He coukd talk to a cow if he wanted to.

"Wise words, Kalt." He smiled and bended over to take the rope and be able to pull Kaltenecker with him "Let's get some food, shall we? I hope you like green goo." Lance stared walking what he imagined was the way towards the kitchen (The castle was big, don't blame him for getting confused) "I guess it'll be okay for you to eat it. I mean, it's green. Grass is also green and you cows enjoy grass. It also kind of tastes like grass? Maybe if you try hard enough" Lance stopped for a few seconds, thinking if he should turn left or right. "By the way, what are you doing here? In space, I mean. I imagine you weren't brought here by a giant mechanical lion" The thought of Blue made Lance’s heart ache. He shook his head and changed the subject "I guess the farmers weren't lying when they said their cows were being abducted by aliens, huh? " With Kaltenecker's lack of response, if you could call tags a response, Lance gave up on talking and they stayed that way until they finally arrived at the kitchen.

_We don't really say kitchen for this,_ Coran had said once _, we kind of just call it the place where the reposition of nutrients, vitamins and minerals comes from. PWRNVMCF for short. Kitchen was more reserved to what Alteans had in their homes, because it was a very special place._

Lance could understand. The "kitchen" was so impersonal and plain,so different from Lance’s kitchen back at his home, where his mother cultivated some herbs and where his grandmother spent time writing recipes with his dad on lazy Thursday afternoons. His kitchen was a bit too warm sometimes and was one of the most messy places in the house, but Lance would definitely be lying if he said he didn't enjoy spending time there.

"Do you miss home, Kalt?" Lance asked, his voice low, almost like a whisper, as he looked at the metallic walls and clean countertops.

"Mooo" The cow answered, because what else was it supposed to say? 

Lance just nodded as if he understood and finally made a move to give his cow some food. As he watched the strange looking pipe pour the green goo onto the plate, Lance wondered what Kaltenecker's answer would be if she could really speak. Did she miss Earth? Was she happy that she left? Did cows even have those kind of feelings

Maybe he would have to figure it out later. They would win the war and then Lance would take Kalt to a nice field with lots of grass and see if she looked happier than she was before. 

_To win the war you need Voltron,_ a voice on the back of his head whispered, _to form Voltron correctly you need Shiro_. 

Lance closed his eyes. 

_ And to get Shiro you need to stop being so selfish and just pilot the Red Lion **.** _

"Lance!"

Again, if asked, he would not admit his scream. 

"I'm so happy I found you buddy!" It was Hunk. He was panting, as if he had just ran aeound the castle looking forhis friend. _Oh_. "Next time, please choose a more obvious place like your room or the main deck." Hunk walked towards him. He didn't seem to notice Kaltenecker."Actually, next time don't run away at all dude. Allura was-oh, hi Kaltenecker! Did Lance give you the goo?" The cow ignored the question and Hunk furrowed his eyebrows "Can you even eat it? I don't think it is poisonous to cows or something but maybe we should talk to Coran. You know, just to check and-"

"Hunk"

"What? Ah! Sorry, I got carried away. What was I saying?" He looked up, seemed to remember and turned back to Lance " I just wanted you to know that Allura was being extremely rude and I do not agree with the way she spoke to you. I made sure she knew that." Hunk said that last part with a smile.

"Oh my god Hunk"Lance could feel the corners of his mouth moving up."You argued with the princess for me?"

"Of course not, do you think I have a death wish like you? I would never argue with an Angry Allura." Lance laughed at that and Hunk visibly got happier " I just calmly said that she  was being insensitive and should be more considerate of our feelings. Then she calmly asked me to come get you and I was going to do it anyway so it wasn't much of a problem."

"Dude" Lance laughed "Allura totally won your not-argumnet, but I appreciate your efforts soldier"

"Oh, shut up" Hunk playfully punched Lance's arm and both of them laughed a little.

"Anyway, thanks for coming after me" Lance  smiled at Hunk.

"That's what friends are for, buddy." Hunk said softly and smiled back at his friend.

Hunk, Lance now realized, was a piece of home in the dark and cold depths of space. A piece of the feeling Lance missed so much. Hunk was the warmth of having a true friend and Lance couldn't be more thankful for that.

"Well, as much as I would love to stay here, eat something and chat with you a little, Angry Allura wants to do something now and as I previously said, I do not argue with Angry Allura"

"Sure" Lance smiled, but he couldn't quite hide the complete lack of excitement in his voice. It was clear he didn't want to go there and face the others but the duty called, right? He needed to do what he needed to do. "Just a sec" He put some more goo on Kaltenecker's plate and gently patted her head. "Let's go"

They didn't speak much as they made their way to where the others were, but it wasn't uncomfortable. If anything, Lance enjoyed it and he was sure Hunk did too.

When they arrived the Black Lion's hangar, only Keith was there. He was in his Paladin armor, _red_ paladin armor (the black one was lost with Shiro), and was glaring at Black's head as if he was waiting for Shiro to come out of it at any second.

"Allura wants to test forming Voltron so you two should go to your lions" Keith said. He didn't turn around to face them as he spoke, he only kept glaring at Black. "You will pilot Red, Lance"

"I know" Lance sounded angry, but Keith didn't seem to mind. Hunk just sighed and tapped Lance on the shoulder, motioning for them to go. They started to go away.

"Lance"

Lance turned around. Keith was staring at him.

"Take good care of Red" Keith said, face serious. But then a smirk appeared and Keith said his next words " I'll be returning to her shortly"

Lance couldn't stop his own smile. With the way he said it, it was almost like Keith was challenging Lance. And Lance never turned down a challenge. Specially from Keith.  
"You can count on it" He said and turned to walk to Red's hangar. A new feeling burning inside him.

_Confidence_.

Unfortunately, that confidence didn't stay for long, it vanished as soon as he saw Allura waiting for him at Red's hangar, her face still deadly serious. Lance really didn't want to be yelled at again so he chose not to say anything. He probably should apologize for his behavior earlier but that was another thing he really didn't want to through. Lance didn't exactly regret what he said earlier, even if now he understood why Allura was forcing him to do such thing. It still hurt. A lot. He didn't want to talk about it.

"Lance" Allura greeted him. He simply nodded, not really trusting himself to say anything. She didn't seem to mind his lack of words. "I already helped Keith with his process and I must say he did incredibly well. I hope you'll follow his path." Lance told himself she didn't really understand what that words meant to him and nodded again. Allura just continued. "It will be pretty simple and painless, but I need you to pay close attention." He nodded one more time" You will connect yourself to the Blue Lion using everything your bond has to offer. Then, you will push her to the back of mind so as to make space for  the Red Lion to enter. Your bond with Red will he extremely superficial and its only purpose is to make you capable of piloting your new Lion. Understood?"

"Yes" Lance finally trusted himself enough to speak, but he still couldn't look at her in the eyes "Understood"

"Lance" Allura called him again and this time, much to Lance's surprise, she spoke gently. He forced himself to look up and was met by a still serious, but softer face. "I am sorry about my behavior earlier." Allura probably noticed how surprised Lance looked, because she gave him a quick smile "I didn't mean to hurt your feelings, I was just...frustrated." Her face suddenly looked darker "I am extremely worried about Shiro, Lance" She wasn't looking at him anymore, instead she was starring at the ground. "I just want to get to him as fast as possible"

"I understand" Allura's gaze was back on him but Lance didn't feel intimidated by it anymore. Sometimes Lance forgot that Allura, a strong, brave and determined alien princess could have such human flaws."I am sorry too"

Allura smiled at him and smiled back.

"I'm glad we got this solved" She sighed but her expreasion remained soft  "Now, please focus on your process." 

"Don't worry princess, I've got this" Lance closed his eyes and focused on Blue.

She was like an ocean inside Lance’s head, sending waves of thoughts to him. Sometimes, he would feel her like he was inside of water, like an embrace of ideas and emotions. As soon as he closed his eyes she was there and Lance did as Allura said. He could feel what seemed to be a purr as he felt their connection becoming more clouded, as if they were trying to talk when one of them was underwater. Lance knew she was still there, but she wasn't as strong as before. It was a bit unsettling.

"Done" He said and opened his eyes. Allura seemed relieved

"Excellent" She said "Now I will leave you with Red so you two can get ready. Good luck, Lance"

Lance watched her go and quietly whished for Blue to help her the best she could. Allura deserved it.

"You too" He said.

Allura smiled and got out and Lance turned to face Red. The Lion didn't move at all since he arrived and Lance didn't really know if she was supposed to or not. Maybe it was Blue thing to always be moving a little bit when Lance entered her hangar.

"Okay, Red. Open up"

Nothing.

"Red? I am Lance, your temporary pilot. Open up"

Nothing.

"Please?"

Nothing.

_It's fine_ , he told himself, He just needed to be patitent and keep trying. Red would eventually open for him.

Lance lost his patience when he reached the ten minutes mark.

"Come on you big stubborn tomato!" Lance screamed as he glared holes on the Lion's head.

He was now trying his last resort: offend Red enough for her open her mouth to scream back at him and then use the time to enter the cockpit. Brilliant, right?

Except the fact that Red looked like she couldn't care less about the insults Lance was throwing at her. Maybe she was used to it? Lance could imagine Keith being angry at his Lion as for him, Keith was a constant ball of fury and emoness. Maybe his insults were just overused. 

Or maybe she didn't think he was worth her time at all.

Lance kind of could feel Blue trying to make him call down, sending relaxing waves a deep good feelings, but it wasn't working. Lance was still angry. Actually no,he wasn’t angry, he was _furious_.

"Okay, you know what? I'm just as happy as you are with this hole thing but here I am! Tying to go through with the plan I hate because I understand it is necessary" Lance took some steps back so he could look at her properly and hopefully make her feel his glare. He was now completely ignoring Blue's efforts to make him calm again "But nooo, you just can't cooperate, can you? You have to be a selfish asshole because I'm not the pilot you want!" Lance angrily pointed his finger at her. It was a weird feeling, scolding a Lion of Voltron. The weirdest thing was how Red kind of reminded him of his little sister. Maybe the comparison was just Blue again, now trying a new approach on the situation. It still wasn't working, though. The angry feeling didn't pass, instead it seemed to combine with a new feeling of frustration as Lance yelled some more."Well, guess what? I'm never going to be Keith! He's always going to be better than me and I understand that you want the more skilled pilot between the two of us but he can't be here right now and you'll have to deal with whether you want it or not!" Lance was panting, he could feel the fury emanating from his body. Blue seemed desperate now so Lance decided to actually concentrated on what she was sending him. He closed his eyes.

It was like a calm ocean, just going forward and then back on its own rhythm, not worrying about anything and making a pleasant sound as it splashed into the rocks.  
_Patience yields focus,_ he cloud hear somewhere inside his mind, and he didn't know where he had heard that before, but it seemed familiar. Lance opened his eyes and turned to face Red again.

"Now" He started and his voice, though serious, was calm and controlled. It was the same voice he used to talk to his sister when they fought and, again, the memory of her appeared."I would really appreciate it if you could open up and let me in."

The thing about Lance’s little sister, Julia, the stubborn six years old girl, was that, even though Lance knew he wasn't her favorite brother-

Red's eyes became a brighter yellow.

And even though they fought a lot-  
She lowered her had until she stopped it in front of him

Julia still loved him.

Red opened her mouth and Lance proudly walked in. Her cockpit was pretty much the same as Blue's and Lance let out a sigh of relief.

"Thanks Red" He gently touched her control panel. "Now let's go form Voltron"

 


	3. Part 3

Lance closed his eyes ,took a deep breath and hoped no one was trying to contact him since his comms were off. If Lance's calculations were correct, the others would probably give him about thirty minutes before trying to ask for a report and hopefully that would be enough for him to solve his problem.

Allura had said that, to be able to form Voltron, they needed to get used to their new ( _temporary_ ) lions, so they had landed on a little deserted planet to train for a bit. He, Keith and Allura left as Hunk and Pidge stayed with Coran to help him with...the castle's systems? Lance wasn't sure. He wasn't really paying attention to that part of the conversation since he was a little bit more focused on trying to understand what the strange sensation he was feeling was. Surprisingly but not really, it was Red. She was like a constant burning inside Lance's head that made him want to move faster, to fly freely, to just go and forget about whatever may appear on his way. Or, in other words, a constant urge to get in trouble.

Honestly, if that was how Keith felt every time they flew, than Lance was legitimately impressed at how he managed to focus enough on forming Voltron, because Lance was sure he wouldn't be able to do it(number 37 of the list of things Keith could do better than Lance. Not that he was couting or anything)

(The list of things Lance could do better than Keith had a total of 6 itens) (He was totally counting that one)

So yeah, Lance was having some porblems with Red's emotions and all but he could also feel Blue there and his Lion was trying really hard to make him stable again. Problem was, while Blue was trying to make him calm, Red was trying to make him agitated and really, if the Blue and Red lions were arguing anywhere else, Lance would have laughed at how similar to him and Keith they were. But they were arguing inside his head and it wasn't funny at all.

"Would you two please calm down?" Lance asked, eyes still firmly shut. His head was enough of a mess without him trying to focus on seeing things. Such a shame that people needed to see to properly pilot a Lion.

Long story short, Lance hit the ground and hnoestly, if he knew that was all he needed to do to make the two lions shut up he would have crashed sooner.

"Ouch" Lance said and finally opened his eyes as he rubbed his right arm. He didn't  have the chance to blink twice before being overwhelmed by Blue's worry. "I'm fine girl." He reassured her and the feeling tuned down a bit so he turned his attention to Lion number two "Are you okay Red?" He asked and quickly received an affirmative purr "Good. Sorry for crashing you but I must say you guys weren't being helpful at all." Both lions seemed confused. Lance sighed. Here he goes again "I can't handle your reckless style as well as Keith can, Red, so it kind of gets a bit overwhelming for me. Blue is just trying to make me feel better, but I really can't concentrate if you guys keep giving me completely opposite emotions at the same time." Lance was invaded by a new  feeling and it took him some seconds to understand it was the Lions apologizing. It made him smile a little bit. "Don't worry guys, it's all fine now. Let's start flying again shall we?" If the Lions had facial expressions, Red would probably be smiling at the moment.

Flying the Red Lion was much cooler when there weren't two sentient beings fighting inside your head. Red was so fast and agile, so full of energy that Lance couldn't help but smile as they flew. They could have spent hours just flying around.

Oh no.

_They could have spent hours just flying around!_

"-nce if you managed to get yourself killed in a quiznaking uninhabited planet, I will personally kill you" Pidge voice filled his head as soon as he turned the comms on. She sounded angry, which wasn't good, but at least it seemed she was worried about him. 

"Awn, Pidge. I didn't know you cared so much about me" He answered.

Although not as bad as two lions arguing, having five people scream at you at the same time was pretty awful. Don't believe it? Ask Lance.

" _Santa Madre de_ \- I'm still alive and fine! Though, my ears probably aren't. Don't scream like that again please." Lance felt Blue's sympathetic wave and he quietly thanked her. Red remained silent to him. 

"Well, why weren't you answering the comms?" An angry Pidge said at the same time an angry Keith shouted "What did you do to my Lion, Lance?"

Lance honestly couldn't say he was surprised by the reactions.

"Okay, first of all, rude Keith. I didn't do anything to your Lion! In fact, between me and Red, she's the one who should be apologizing!"

"Red has never done anything wrong in her entire life" Keith said as if it was an unquestionable truth, like he was just  
stating common sense. Lance sighed.

"I won't even dignify that with an answer." He sighed again and chose to ignore Keith's angry huff.  "Anyway, I don't think me and Miss Never Did Anything Wrong can bond more than we already have." Red gave Lance an affirmative purr, so he kept on talking "So right now I'm just waiting for you guys to be ready."

The comms went silent. Five seconds passed. Then ten, then thirty. When Lance began to wonder if he had accidentally shut them off again, Allura spoke up.

"I am ready" She said and her voice tone didn't carry much emotion, but it surely was enough to make chills running  down Lance's spine. Maybe, Lance wondered, she had some kind of magic alien thing that allowed her to always say powerful words like that.

Some time before, after a particular bad mission, Allura had given them the Ultimate Motivational Speech (Lance was the one who came up with that name) and her words had stuck with them for days. She was almost as good as Shiro.

 _Shiro_.

"I'm ready too" Keith spoke up, interrupting Lance's train of thought. He didn't sound as ready as he should, but nobody said anything. "We should go"

Silence. No one moved an inch. Lance didn't dare to breath. He didn't know what he was waiting for, he just knew he had to wait for it. Then, suddenly, he heard a very loud sound followed by a black spot flying up in the sky. A blue spot joined it almost immediately and Lance didn't wait for too long before following them as well. Seconds later, Green and Yellow joined the three Lions and everyone stopped, waiting again, but now Lance knew what he was waiting for.

Keith's orders.

"We need to form Voltron" Keith's voice filled the comms. He sounded anything but confident. Not how he should sound like. Not how a leader should sound like. Not how Shiro would've sounded like.

 _Shiro_.

"You heard Keith" The words escaped Lance's mouth without his consent, but it didn't matter. Keith needed support. "Let's go save Shiro"

Five Lions moved together and Voltron came to life.

It was a weird feeling for Lance, being an arm,piloting Red. She had this new strength in her that Lance was unfamiliar to and it kind of burned. Another thing was that he could barely feel Blue, she became just a faint presence on the back of his head.

"Prepare your bayards, paladins" It was Allura speaking. Her voice seemed so loud, too loud. It burned.

Lance closed his eyes and breathed. He needed to focus so they could save Shiro. Shiro needed them.

The red bayard felt strange in Lance’s hand. It seemed heavier, somehow. Maybe all the bayards had different weights? What defined the weight of a bayard? Was it the paladin? But if it was, then Keith's bayard would weight the same as Lance's since Lance was the one holding it, right? Lance shook his head. Not the time for that, he had other things to think about.

"Is everyone ready?" Now it was Keith. He seemed much more confident then before.

"Yes" Came the multiple answers.

"Then let's do this"

They all activated their bayards at once.

Red's cockpit started to move and Lance knew it was because of the sword it was forming. The movement still made him a bit dizzy, so he closed his eyes. Then, a new feeling invaded him. He could feel all of his teammates, all of their emotions. Their fear, their excitement, their hope and much more.  
Suddenly, Lance knew exactly what to do.

He pulled the controls and the sword moved. It wasn't on fire like when they fought Zarkon, no, the sword now had a blue glow and emanated a very strong energy. 

"I will open it" Lance said. He didn't know where that words had come from.

The sword had only cut through the air, but where it had passed was a blue line.

_Open it._

The blue line got bigger and bigger and turned into a portal. It looked like a wormhole, but Lance knew it was very different from the ones Allura made.

"Good luck" Coran's voice could be heard "I will be waiting for you and Shiro right here"

Keith didn't wait a second before making Voltron go through the portal and then everything was black. Lance couldn't see anything even though he knew his eyes were open. It was too dark, way too dark.

But then suddenly it wasn't and a planet appeared in front of him.

 _Voltron_.

The first thing Lance noticed was the water. An enormous blue blanket painted with small green dots that he assumed were islands.But the planet wasn't only made of water, no, it also had what Lance liked to thing were continents. A green one that looked like a forest, a yellowish one that looked like a desert and a red and brown one that looked like a land full of volcanos and lava.

Water, forest, earth, fire. Four Lions of Voltron.

Where was the fifth?

Then it hit Lance. Atmosphere. A faint white glow surrounding the entire planet. Air. Shiro's element and where he must be.

Lance was invaded by a good feeling. They were going to find and save Shiro and everything would be okay again. They had defeated Zarkon so Voltron was no longer necessary and they could go back to Earth.

_He could go back home._

Unfortunately, the good feeling didn't last for long as Red began to shake her cockpit. The movements were harsh, as if she wanted to expell something that was glued to her head. As if she was wearing a hat and wanted to take it off immediately. Lance barely felt it when Voltron was separated.

"Red! What the hell are yo-" He began to say but was abruptly cut off when Red's mouth opened and he was sucked out to space because his grip wasn't strong enough.

Detail: his helmet wasn't completely closed.

Observation: The feeling of spinning out in space without an oxygen supply was not good.

Lance expelled all the air from his lungs on an attempt to scream but there was no sound. He could feel panic taking over his body. No, he couldn't panic, he had to think fast. There was a button to close the helmet, he just had to press it. Lance moved his arms to his helmet, rapidly taping the thing, desperately trying to find the button. His fingers danced on the flat surface and his mind screamed. Where was it? Until he finally found it. A small thing on his right side that activated the helmet's protection and released oxygen.

Lance breathed. And breathed again and again and again. He breathed so much he was sure he was hyperventilating. Lance could hear something on the background. Was it his friends screaming? He couldn't really focus on that. In all honesty, he couldn't focus on anything but breathing.

Lance closed his eyes and ignored the shouts of his name. He needed to breathe.

When he opened them again he wasn't out in space anymore. He was inside Blue's cockpit with a worried looking Allura.

"-ce? Lance? You have to answer me so I can be sure that you're fine" She was saying and she sounded almost desperate. He hated to think he was the one who made her feel that way. "Lance? Please answer me."

"What the fuck Red?" Was the first thing that came out of his mouth. Not really the best thing to say but hey, Allura seemed visibly relieved.

After saying that, it was as if Lance had suddenly returned to the world.

"Lance! Oh my god dude, are you okay?" Hunk's voice came up first, loud and clearly worried.

"What happened?!" Pidge's who was also clearly worried.

"Why didn't you just close your helmet?" And then Keith's, who didn't seem worried at all.

"How the fuck was I supposed to know your fucking Lion was going to throw me in space?!" Lance practically screamed. He was using lots of swear words, but who could blame him really?

"Don't talk about Red like that" Came Keith's unfazed voice. 

"She tried to fucking kill me!" He screamed, sitting up abruptly and ignoring Allura's quiet offer for help. He was just so angry at Keith for making it seem like he had almost died because he was stupid enough not to close the helmet.

"Black warned me before letting me go." Keith answered and this he at least sounded a bit guilty this time.

"Well, Red didn't" Lance didn't wait for a response and shut the comms off. He turned to Allura. "Any idea on why Red and Black ejected their pilots princess?" He asked and calmly got up, as if nothing had happened. Allura blinked a couple of times before answering him

"I guess they need their official pilots, Lance. The Blue Lion didn't eject me because I have no other Lion to go to"

"And because she is just that nice" Blue purred happily inside his mind and Lance couldn't help but smile. It was good to have her back.

"Of course" Allura smiled. "Now, if you're feeling well enough, please guide us to Voltron"

She didn't have to say it twice.

They landed in one of the many islands.(Lance imagined the others were in their own elements, because he couldn't see any of them there.)Blue opened her mouth and Lance and Allura got out.

The first thing that hit Lance was a cool breeze. Then, it was a familiar smell.The smell of the ocean. Lance was in a island with green soft grass and trees, surrounded by the ocean.

Lance’s helmet was gone in a matter of seconds, so were the hard parts of his armor, and he was left barefoot with only the black piece of cloth that went beneath everything.

Then, Lance ran. He felt the breeze against his face, the smell getting stronger, his feet being tickled by the grass.

He felt like he was going home.

The water was cold when he entered but it didn't matter, because it was water. It was water! Blue purred and he couldn't help but let out a loud laugh. It was water! He was swimming! In the ocean!

"Blue!" Lance screamed with pure happiness in his voice. He was smiling so much it hurt. "This is amazing!"And, even if only for some minutes, Lance completely forgot about his problems.

That had happened two weeks ago.

On the day the paladins arrived at Voltron, they found their missing leader, Shiro, and brought him home. He was okay, unharmed, smiling at his team because they were all together again. Everything was okay.

Until it wasn't and they had a new problem to deal with.

A problem named Lotor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait :(  
> My original plan was to make a very detailed chapter about rescuing Shiro and finding Voltron (the planet) but then Lotor happened and I had this super idea and I couldn't focus on this chapter anymore. Hope you guys enjoyed it anyway!

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry for any mistakes! English is not my mother language


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